


Only the Best

by reignofdreams (ninasdreams)



Series: As You Wish [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: David POV, F/M, Prompt Fill, Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-06
Updated: 2013-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-03 15:23:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1072050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninasdreams/pseuds/reignofdreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>He’s seen the way they look at each other when one of them isn’t paying attention, seen the vulnerability and openness in some of their exchanges.  And David wants to resent Hook for that…wants to give into the envy and tell Hook to keep his distance like he did back in Neverland.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only the Best

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill for anon requesting David being conflicted over Hook spending so much time with Emma b/c of protective Papa!Charming feels vs bro!Hook feels.

David looked up for what must be the fiftieth time from the paperwork he was supposed to be completing. Hook was still perched on the corner of Emma’s desk across the station, saying something undoubtedly witty if Emma’s smirk is anything to go by.

David tries to focus again on the latest issue worthy of Storybrooke’s law enforcement, but a bright laugh from Emma draws his attention right back to where it was. He can’t help but bask in the sound. The carefree sound, the brilliance of her smile and the twinkle in her eyes—David’s heart squeezes because this is such a rare thing from his daughter.

His daughter…the little girl whose nursery he had spent weeks in with Snow, decorating and preparing, making sure everything was perfectly for their precious child. And the only time she’d spent in it had been as he’d fought (nearly given his life) to send her through the wardrobe and twenty-eight years later, when it lay in ruin. Twenty-eight years of time missed because of one person’s vengeance (and, he suspected, a certain Dark One’s own machinations).

He stops that train of thought, unable to pursue it for fear of weeping.

They have grown closer since Neverland, the truths Emma had to face there seeming to have helped her start coming to terms with the reason she’d missed out on having a family. David desperately wishes that he could bring that smile to her face, that she could laugh like that with him. Freely…comfortably.

But Hook…

Hook has brought that side of Emma out almost from the beginning. He evokes such strong emotions in her, be they frustration, anger, or brief happiness. David isn’t blind. He’s seen the way they look at each other when one of them isn’t paying attention, seen the vulnerability and openness in some of their exchanges.

And David wants to resent Hook for that…wants to give into the envy and tell Hook to keep his distance like he did back in Neverland.

But he can’t. Because the truth is that Hook brings a spark to Emma that isn’t there with anyone else except Henry. Because it is obvious to anyone with eyes that the pirate is completely devoted to her, heart and soul, and will go to the ends of the earth and beyond for her if required.

And, David can admit, he himself has grown fond of the Captain. They aren’t quite friends yet, but he doesn’t think it’s a far off possibility. Beneath that flirtatious sarcastic exterior, David has seen the pain of loss that has driven the man. He has also seen glimpses of the honorable man Hook must have been before fate intervened.

Snow had told him that when they’d first found Hook in the Enchanted Forest, he had introduced himself as Killian Jones. The same surname had been on the tag David had picked up in Neverland, the one Hook had used to bait him into the trip that saved his life. So the name must not have been a lie.

David wonders what Killian Jones is really like. If the hints David has seen are anything to go by, he knows that he could definitely be friends with Killian Jones. And he also thinks that Killian Jones is a man that he could, reluctantly, accept as a part of Emma’s life. She is old enough and experienced enough to make her own choices on love, no matter how much he wishes she could be his little girl forever.

So David sits back in his seat and watches his baby girl banter with the pirate, watches their smiles and the matching light in their eyes.

He’s only ever wanted the best for Emma, and if he has to relinquish his daughter to someone—well…he’s not exactly upset to realize that it may be Killian Jones he ends up calling son-in-law.


End file.
